The Rancher’s Spirited Bride

by Chloe Carley

  Carl joined Shawn and they carried on a conversation as if she wasn’t even there.

  “We can’t pull that calf while she’s beside it. She could get badly hurt,” Carl told Shawn.

  Her brother nodded. “I know. But you heard her, she’s stuck.”

  “No, her boots are stuck. If she pulls her feet free and lays out on the mud toward the edge, one of us should be able to reach for her and slide her across to safety.”

  Shawn nodded and then sighed. “You want to tell her she needs to ditch the boots and let the mud have them?”

  She wondered who was going to be the bearer of that bad news. They were acting as if they didn’t know she could hear them. Deciding to take the decision out of their hands, she hollered, “I can hear you! And I’m not leaving my boots in this mud hole. Pull the calf out of here so that I can get out.”

  “It’s too dangerous,” Shawn told her, crossing his arms over his chest in a gesture Sara Jane knew meant he wasn’t willing to budge from this opinion.

  The calf let out another plaintive cry and Sara Jane knew she was going to cave to the men’s opinion. She hated doing it as no self-respecting cowboy ever abandoned his boots if there was another option. She sighed and then started working her left foot free. Her feet had already started to come out of her boots, so finishing the job seemed fairly simple. She’d continued to sink in the soft mud and was now immersed in the sticky brown goo up past her knees so that she could barely move her legs, but she finally felt her right foot slip free from the foot of the boot. She kept wiggling, pushing down on the adjoining boot with her free foot, cringing at the feeling of the wet mud seeping into her sock. She increased her efforts until both stockinged feet were free.

  Throwing her body forward was the most expedient way of getting her hands close enough for one of the men to grab and pull her free from the mud. She did so, hating the feeling of the mud as it sucked at her body and tried to pull her down once more. She reached for the edge of the mud hole, and the short grasses growing there, hoping to help herself before one of the men arrived.

  Carl started toward her, but she was covered in mud, and the laughter he was containing still shone in his eyes. She glared at him and said,, “There isn’t anything funny about this.”

  Carl chuckled. “You’re not standing where we are.

  Can you reach out and grab hold of my hands?”

  Sara Jane did as he requested and then declared, “You owe me a new pair of boots.”

  Shawn nodded, hiding his smirk, and stepped forward to help pull her free. Sara Jane took great pleasure it getting as much mud on Shawn as possible during her rescue. By the time she was standing on solid ground once more, she was exhausted and turned her thoughts to the poor calf. It had been stuck much longer than she had been and was barely struggling to free itself now.

  “We need to get the calf out of there,” she told Shawn, urgency in her voice.

  “You stay here, and we’ll take care of it.” Shawn turned to Carl and nodded. “Back the horse up.”

  Carl did so, talking to Shiloh the entire time as the rope pulled and strained to loosen the calf from the thick mud. For long moments it didn’t appear that anything was going to happen, and then the calf began to struggle and got its front hooves free.

  “That’s it. Keep pulling,” Sara Jane encouraged them, her eyes fixed on the calf. The men added their strength to the rope, Shiloh kept moving backward, and Sara Jane could only sit and watch. The mud on her clothing was starting to dry now and becoming stiff and uncomfortable.

  A few tense minutes later, the calf finally got enough leverage beneath its front legs to find solid ground. A final pull brought the young animal fully onto dry land and both men whooped and hollered in celebration. Sara Jane smiled as the mama cow ventured over to check out her baby. The calf appeared to be fine, and after a few more minutes, and with his mama’s urging, he stood up on wobbly legs. Shawn checked him out briefly and then both animals moved away from the mud hole, the young calf staying very close to his mother.

  Shawn retrieved the rope and coiled it up before fastening it back onto Shiloh’s saddle. He walked over to where Sara Jane was still catching her breath on the dry ground. “You’re a mess,” he teased.

  Sara Jane waved his comment away. “I’m heading out. I’ll send Gideon or Jace out here to take my place.”

  “There’s no need. We found the other cows bedded down half a mile from here. We already sent them off in the right direction and we’ll catch up to them in no time at all. Go get yourself cleaned up and we’ll see you later.”

  Sara Jane nodded, moving her arms and stamping her stockinged feet to try and remove some of the excess mud. Carl was watching her from a distance and when she reached Shiloh and found it impossible to pull herself up into the saddle, he was right there to help.

  “Let me,” he told her, taking her waist in his hands and lifting her up the next time she tried to mount her mare.

  “Thanks. I probably weigh twice as much with all of this mud clinging to my clothing,” she told him.

  Carl nodded and then stepped close enough his chest was almost touching her muddy leg. “Are you okay?”

  Sara Jane frowned. “Of course I’m okay, I just got a little muddy. Oh, and had to abandon my boots. Other than that, this has been a perfect day.”

  Sara Jane knew she sounded sarcastic, but this was not the way she’d envisioned the ending of what had started out as a perfect day. “I’m gonna go get cleaned up.”

  “We’ll meet you back at the ranch …”

  Sara Jane shook her head. “I’m not riding that far covered in mud. I’ll wash up first and then ride for home.”

  Carl frowned and then cautioned, “Be careful down at the creek. The last time we were down there we saw a lot of bear sign. They’re foraging for those last berries before they go into hibernation.”

  “I’ll be careful. I always am.” She saw the look on Carl’s face that said he didn’t believe her, and decided she didn’t want to hear any more criticisms today. She put her heels into Shiloh’s side and turned her toward the creek, leaving the men behind in a cloud of dust. She forced herself to look at the brighter side of things. She’d saved the calf. That was a win in her book, even though she was really going to miss her boots.

  She reached the creek and, without preamble, wandered straight into the middle of it and sat down. It was icy cold, and took her breath away for a moment, but she didn’t care. Soon she was shivering uncontrollably. She used her hands to remove the majority of the mud from her clothing and her stockinged feet. When the water was running somewhat less muddy as it passed her location, and she couldn’t feel her fingers or toes any longer, she stumbled back to the shore. She stood dripping muddy water and hugging herself, wishing she’d not been in such a hurry and had started a fire.

  “Sara Jane, you didn’t think this through.” She did her best to squeeze the freezing water from her hair and then approached Shiloh, forcing her fingers to wrap around the saddle horn. It took her three tries to get her foot firmly planted in the stirrup, and another seven tries before she was able to pull herself up and into the saddle. She sat there, shivering, and that’s when Shiloh abruptly dropped her muzzle into a clump of grass she wanted to eat, and Sara Jane’s frozen gingers dropped the reins. The leather lines slid to the ground.

  She leaned forward but couldn’t reach them.

  Sara Jane didn’t give way to feminine fits of emotions very often, but this was one time when she felt justified in the tears that ran down her cheeks. She was tired, dirty, cold, and bootless. She just wanted to go home and put this day behind her.

  “Shiloh if you would just pick your head up, I could grab hold of the reins and we could both go home,” she tried to talk her mare into helping her. Shiloh seemed very interested in the grasses and didn’t even react to hearing her name called other than to give a soft whinny.

  Sara Jane sat there, growing colder by the moment and finally clo
sed her eyes and sent up a prayer for help.

  God, if you’re listening, I could use a little help here. I just need to get home, but if I get off of this horse, I don’t think I’m going to be able to get back on her. It’s too far to walk home in stockinged feet. I can’t do this. Not by myself. I know I like to pretend I can do everything by myself, but I can’t. I admit it. I can’t. I need help sometimes.

  As soon as she finished her silent prayer, she heard the sound of a horse approaching and she could only pray it was a friend’s and not a foe’s. Her fingers were too cold for her to even think about trying to handle a gun right now.

  “Sara Jane, where are you?” Carl’s voice came from a short distance away.

  She looked up at the heavens and shook her head slightly. “Really? This is the help you send me?”

  While she was relieved that help was imminent, she was also angry that it came in the form of the one man she couldn’t seem to impress. At Gideon and Riley’s wedding, Carl had announced his intentions to court her and convince her he saw them together as man and wife. Sara Jane had been secretly thrilled to hear Carl’s declaration after some thought, and yet …

  That had been nearly three weeks ago, and he’d barely spoken to her since; only doing so when he was forced to because there were others around. It made no sense to Sara Jane and she hated being confused. She thought about remaining quiet, but she’d asked for help and she was in no position to turn it down. No matter the form it arrived in.

  “Here. I’m … he … here.” She hated the way her voice quivered with cold.

  Moments later, Carl appeared. He took one look at her and shook his head. “Girl, you should have started a fire first. You’re going to catch pneumonia.”

  “I didn’t think about it until I was already in the water and shivering,” she admitted in a shaky voice.

  “Hold on, I’ll get one started. Let’s get you down…”

  Sara Jane shook her head. “If you’ll hand me Shiloh’s reins, I’ll just head home and take a proper bath there.”

  Carl shook his head. “No way. We’re ten miles out and you’ll be frozen or near death before then. Get down from that horse and we’ll get you warmed up a bit first and then head home.”

  He began to gather small sticks and dried brush to make a fire. Her arms and legs refused to comply even though her mind was telling her to get off the horse and help him. She was frozen in place, her muscles aching something fierce. Her hands were clenched around the horn on her saddle, her fingers so cold she couldn’t unbend them.

  Carl stopped next to her and looked up. “Why are you still sitting there?”

  Suddenly, it was all too much for Sara Jane and her control snapped. “Because I can’t move, that’s why. Do you think I want to be stuck up here on this horse, freezing to death and having to rely on you to come and save me? That’s the last thing I wanted to happen, and I can’t do anything about it. I’m cold … so cold … I can’t move my hands and…”

  Chapter 3

  Whatever else she was going to say was muffled against Carl’s chest as he reached up and pulled her off the horse and into his arms. He jostled her for a moment and then carried her over and sat her on the ground. He didn’t say anything; he simply got the fire going and then retrieved a blanket from the back of his horse. He wrapped it around her shoulders and then picked her up again. He settled on the ground, his back against a rock, and cradled her on his lap, pulling the blanket tight around her body.

  Silently, Carl held her, letting the fire warm them both. After several long minutes, he asked softly, “Getting warmer?”

  She nodded and then sniffed. He peered down into her face and saw the tears she was trying so hard to hide and it broke his heart. This beautiful young woman always thought she had to be so strong, never allowing any weakness to penetrate the armor she’d erected around herself. He didn’t understand why she was like that, but since he’d first met her, she’d been hell-bent on proving herself. When she’d reached her teenage years, she’d become focused on proving to everyone that she was capable of handling the duties of the men twice her age.

  She could outshoot most of the men, including himself, on a bad day. She could out rope and out ride almost everyone, including both of her brothers. But she wasn’t a man and she didn’t have the strength of a man—a fact that could have cost her dearly today if he and Shawn hadn’t been close enough to come to her aid.

  He rocked her and let her cry softly against his chest until she grew quiet and her body finally relaxed against him. The fire was still burning, and his mind wandered. Sara Jane was still shivering slightly, and he unconsciously pulled her closer, making sure the edges of the blanket were tucked in around her. He held her until the small fire he’d built began to dwindle and he saw that she’d almost fallen asleep.

  “Sara Jane, we need to get home now. Are you feeling well enough to ride?”

  She stirred and her lashes fluttered upward. He watched as it all came back to her sleep-fogged mind. Carl could tell the minute she realized where she was because she immediately began to struggle, trying to get to her feet and away from him.

  Guess our peaceful interlude is over.

  He sighed and helped her, standing her up. When she started to unwind the blanket, he shook his head and stayed her hands. “Keep it wrapped around you, your clothing is still wet, and the wind is starting to kick up. I’ll help you up on Shiloh’s back and lead her home.”

  “I can ride,” Sara Jane informed him.

  “I know you can, and much better than me most days, but this afternoon, please humor me and keep the blanket on? I don’t want you getting sick on us.” Carl watched her struggle with his request and she finally nodded. “Good.” He kicked some dirt over the small fire, always taking care of the land so that it would be here the next time he came this way.

  He retrieved Shiloh and then gestured for Sara Jane to join him. He held her shoulders while she got her foot firmly planted in the stirrup, and then dropped his hands to her waist and lifted her up into the saddle. Once she was seated securely, he handed her the reins. “You good?”

  Sara Jane nodded, and he mounted his own horse. He took the lead, heading them toward the buildings that weren’t even visible from this place on the ranch. The blue sky was giving way to grey thunderheads in the distance and the air even felt different than earlier. “Storm’s a comin’.”

  “Pa figured we’d have snow coming soon, guess he was right.”

  “He usually is. Let’s get home before it hits.” Carl kicked his mount into a faster gallop, pleased when Shiloh did the same. Sara Jane’s lips were a slight blue color, but she wasn’t complaining and even though moving through the air faster meant she would get colder, it also meant she’d be back home and getting warm sooner.

  Carl tucked his chin into his coat, hating the fact that Sara Jane was no doubt freezing right about now. Instead of bringing her heavy leather duster with her, she’d just doubled up on her shirts. They hadn’t planned to be out all day and when they’d left the sun had been shining, so he couldn’t really fault her for not being prepared for this circumstance.

  Carl, on the other hand, was always overly prepared, as were her brothers. One never knew when something was going to come up that would require an overnight stay beneath the stars. An extra blanket, some dried meat, extra water and ammunition … these were just the normal things all of the ranch hands carried with them when they left the safety of the barn and other buildings.

  The men had tried, covertly, to make sure Sara Jane never found herself in a position like that. So far, they’d been successful, and she had no idea that they’d been tailoring the ranch chores to make sure she was home each night by suppertime. This particular situation was of her own making, but at the same time, he admired the way she’d gone to the calf’s rescue without truly thinking about how dirty she might get in the process. He knew there wasn’t another young woman in the region who would have willingly walked
into a mud hole, without a concern for their attire.

  He glanced back at her, his worry increasing when he saw her visibly trembling.

  He’d never been so relieved a few minutes later when the rooflines of the barns and buildings came into view. Jace and Gideon came out to meet them as they rode into the yard.

  Carl slid from the back of his mount almost before he’d come to a complete stop and hurried to Shiloh’s side. He reached up for Sara Jane, watching her shivering uncontrollably. “Hang on, I’ll get you down.”

  As her stockinged feet hit the ground, her legs buckled, Carl supported her quickly, and then helped her hobble to the house. Gideon and Shawn came out of the barn upon hearing the arrival of the horses. Pearl and Riley rushed out of the house when Gideon gave a loud holler.

  “Bring her inside. Shawn told us what happened.” Pearl made a tsking sound and led the way into the kitchen. The large washtub was already in place and several large pots of water were on the hearth heating up.